Pope Francis Washes, Kisses Feet of Refugees on Holy Thursday, Condemns Brussels Attacks

#ad▼

As Europe continues to grapple with the migrant crisis, Pope Francis chose a refugee shelter near Rome to celebrate the traditional foot-washing ceremony ahead of Easter.

Holy Thursday — also known as Maundy Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Great and Holy Thursday, Sheer Thursday, and Thursday of Mysteries — is the Christian holy day on the Thursday before Easter. Holy Thursday commemorates the Maundy and Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles as described in the Canonical gospels. Holy Thursday is the fifth day of Holy Week, and is preceded by Holy Wednesday and followed by Good Friday.

Only a small portion of the 892 asylum-seekers living at the refugee shelter attended, and many of the seats for the event were empty. At the end of the Mass, Francis greeted each refugee.

Some praised the Pope for his actions on Holy Thursday as a true example of Christian love, while others criticized the Pope — arguing that many of the refugees are Muslims who arrived from Middle East lands where Christians are being slaughtered.







Get updates from The Cardinal ALL NEWS FEEDS on Facebook. Just ‘LIKE’ the ‘Arlington Cardinal Page (become a fan of our page). The updates cover all posts and sub-category posts from The Cardinal — Arlingtoncardinal.com. You can also limit feeds to specific categories. See all of The Cardinal Facebook fan pages at Arlingtoncardinal.com/about/facebook …

Hundreds of Islamic State members are reportedly in Europe now, waiting to commit more terrorist acts. Jack Rice, former CIA officer, joins ‘News With Ed’ to talk about the jihadist group’s tactics and abilities to evade surveillance.

Search Amazon …

Search for products sold on Amazon:

Arlingtoncardinal.com is an Amazon Associate website, which means that a small percentage of your purchases gets paid to Arlingtoncardinal.com at no extra cost to you. When you use the search boxes above, any Amazon banner ad, or any product associated with an Amazon banner on this website, you help pay expenses related to maintaining Arlingtoncardinal.com and creating new services and ideas for a resourceful website. See more info at Arlingtoncardinal.com/AdDisclosure